Crude oil

• What is crude oil primarily composed of?

  Mostly hydrocarbons
• What type of hydrocarbons are most common in crude oil?

  Alkanes
• How is crude oil formed?

  From remains of dead plants and animals
• What specific remains contribute to crude oil formation?

  Plankton
• What conditions transform organic biomass into crude oil?

  High pressures and temperatures
• How long does it take for crude oil to form?

  Millions of years
• What happens to crude oil after it forms?

  It soaks into rocks and is stored
• How do we extract crude oil from the ground?

  By drilling into the rock
• Why is crude oil considered a finite resource?

  It takes a long time to form
• What term describes fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas?

  Non-renewable fuels
• What is the purpose of fractional distillation?

  To separate different hydrocarbons
• How does fractional distillation work?

  By heating and using boiling points
• What is the first step in fractional distillation?

  Feed the oil into a chamber and heat
• What happens to the gaseous mixture in the fractionating column?

  It rises and condenses at lower temperatures
• Which hydrocarbons condense first in the column?

  Those with the longest chains
• What are the uses of heavy fuel oil?

  Heating oil, fuel oil, lubricating oil
• What happens to shorter chain hydrocarbons in the column?

  They stay as gas longer
• What fuels are produced from shorter chain hydrocarbons?

  Diesel, petrol, kerosene
• What is LPG primarily composed of?

  Propane and butane
• Which hydrocarbons are the most flammable?

  Shorter chain hydrocarbons
• What can longer chain hydrocarbons be used for?

  Broken down into smaller hydrocarbons
• What is the process called that breaks down longer chain hydrocarbons?

  Cracking
• What are petrochemicals used for?

  Raw materials for the petrochemical industry
• What products can be made from petrochemicals?

  Solvents, lubricants, polymers, detergents
• What is the process of fractional distillation in crude oil separation?

  • Heat crude oil to gas
  • Pass gas into fractionating column
  • Gases rise, cool, and condense
  • Separate based on boiling points
  • Collect different hydrocarbons
• What are the differences between short and long chain hydrocarbons in crude oil?

  • Short chain hydrocarbons:
  • Lower boiling points
  • More flammable
  • Used as fuels (diesel, petrol)

  
  

  • Long chain hydrocarbons:
  • Higher boiling points
  • Poor fuels
  • Used for other purposes or cracked
• What is crude oil primarily composed of?

  A mixture of hydrocarbons
• How can different hydrocarbons in crude oil be separated?

  By the length of their carbon chains
• What process is used to separate hydrocarbons in crude oil?

  Fractional distillation
• Which hydrocarbons are the most flammable?

  The shortest hydrocarbons
• What is the purpose of cracking in hydrocarbons?

  To break down long hydrocarbons into shorter ones
• What type of reaction is cracking?

  A thermal decomposition reaction
• What does thermal decomposition mean?

  Breaking down molecules by heating
• What are the two methods of cracking?

  Catalytic cracking and steam cracking
• What is the first step in both catalytic and steam cracking?

  Heat and vaporize long chain hydrocarbons
• What catalyst is used in catalytic cracking?

  Hot powdered aluminium oxide
• What happens to long hydrocarbons in catalytic cracking?

  They split into smaller hydrocarbons
• What is mixed with hydrocarbons in steam cracking?

  Steam
• What is produced when long chain alkanes are cracked?

  A shorter alkane and an alkene
• What is the balanced equation for cracking decane?

  Decane → C8H18 + C2H4